


Your Secret Valentine

by Gellsbells



Series: Bughead Social Workers AU [5]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Bad Coffee, F/M, Gen, Secret Valentines, Workplace Romance, social workers AU, valentines day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-09
Updated: 2018-02-09
Packaged: 2019-03-15 20:53:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13621467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gellsbells/pseuds/Gellsbells
Summary: Betty is having a bad day, spilt coffee, tough clients and a badly in need of a service elevator. Luckily when she arrives at her desk there is a special gift from her secret Valentine. Coda to Social Work Bughead AU series.





	Your Secret Valentine

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for coming with me for another little trip into this world. It has been fun to write again for this universe and I hope you enjoy reading it as well.

Betty groaned as she readjusted the bag hanging off her shoulder, looking down at the coffee stain that was down her usually pristine shirt. Serves her right for wearing white to work. It was basically sending a challenge to fate to spill something down it.

This morning, it had just so happened to be her morning coffee as she attempted to juggle the files in her hands, eat a piece of toast and gulp down her scalding hot coffee as she got out of her car. She could only imagine what she had looked like to anyone walking past as the coffee slipped, spilt down her shirt and a long string of expletives left her mouth while she tried in vain to mop up the spill with her coat.

The elevator shuddered signaling that it was probably long overdue for a service, but building maintenance probably had a long list of ‘other jobs’ to manage in the old building. Betty wondered whether her day would be made better or worse by being stuck for a couple of hours in the elevator while waiting for someone to come and rescue her, she eyed the emergency button ready to press it as soon as the elevator lurched again.

But then there was a convincing ‘ding’ and Betty sighed as the doors opened on her floor. She heaved her bag higher on her shoulder, so it didn’t fall and spill its contents all over the floor. Which, again, would be just her luck.

All she could think about was dumping her bag at her desk and getting herself a cup of that disgusting filtered coffee they had in the break room, which only had the redeeming features of being warm (most days) and containing caffeine. That was, unless Kevin was deciding to play another prank on the office.

That was all she was thinking about until she saw them.

On her desk was the most beautiful bunch of roses she had ever seen, deep red in colour, with a small teddy bear perched in amongst them. She quickly put her bag down beside her chair smiling down at the meticulously arranged bouquet. Immediately she bent herself down to breathe in their intoxicating scent. Maybe the day wasn’t so bad after all.

“Someone has a secret admirer.” Kevin stood next to her, a slightly envious look on his face, as Betty continued to beam. “Is there a card?”

Betty looked through the buds, delicately moving each one out of her way until she found the crisp white envelope nestled in amongst the rich red petals. She opened the envelope and pulled out the small folded card, a gold embossed love heart on the front.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, from your Valentine.” She read aloud, unable to keep the joy from her voice.

Jughead Jones her boyfriend slash colleague was not exactly the kind of guy that she had thought of as celebrating Valentine’s Day. She had always thought of him more of the _‘it’s a corporate holiday’_ , _‘that’s what hallmark wants you to think’_ kind of guy. But, these. These flowers were beautiful. Maybe she didn’t know her boyfriend as well as she thought she did.

“A secret Valentine.” Kevin took the card from her hand, turning it over as if looking for some kind of clue as to who it might be from.

Betty and Jughead had decided that the whole office didn’t need to know about their relationship, however she had always suspected that Kevin did. Perhaps he was just as surprised about Jughead sending flowers as she was. “Any idea?” He handed the card back to her.

Betty pulled out the little bear from the flowers placing it near her keyboard, so that it could look on at her typing. Her trip to the break room forgotten. “Nope.” She replied as she sat down and smiled to herself as Kevin returned to his own desk, looking over at the entrance as if a magical delivery man would soon arrive with some flowers for his own desk.

Betty opened up the shared calendar and pulled up Jughead’s. It looked like he had appointments up until 2.00pm which made Betty a little disappointed that she couldn’t ‘Thank’ him sooner, but she pulled out her files and began to type up her notes.

* * *

 

Betty had trouble keeping her mind focused on the words in front of her as her eyes drifted to the document open on her computer, to her flowers, to the clock, to the bear and then back again. It was 3.00pm now, which meant Jughead had had a longer visit than expected, which was never a good thing.

That hunch was confirmed as she saw him stalk into the hallway from the elevator. She strained her neck as she saw that he was not heading for his desk, or the break room, but straight for the balcony. He was going for a smoke.

Jughead had been trying to quit for what seemed like months but every couple of weeks he would fall back into old habits, usually due to a difficult case, and she would find him sneaking one outside her apartment or by his car, or like today, out on the balcony.

Betty quickly got up from her chair and grabbed her coat as she went to join him. He didn’t turn around when she opened the door. But there was a tell-tale smoke trail from his head and his bag was unceremoniously dumped in a corner. He leaned over the side, his Sherpa jacket pulled up so that she had a perfect view of his bottom, his braces hanging down low by his sides instead of being pulled over his shoulders like the night of their first date. Betty pulled her lip between her teeth as she took in the view.

She couldn’t help herself as she walked over and gave his butt a solid pinch.

“Fuck,” he shouted, nearly dropping his cigarette as he spun round to face her. “Betts, Jesus.” He ran his hand over his face as he watched her eyes flick to the cigarette clutched between his fingers. “I know, I know.” He ran his hand over his face. “Last one, promise.” He took one last drag before stubbing it out on the ledge, and stuffing the butt into the ashtray next to him.

Betty smiled as she wrapped her arms around him, as Jughead became still, his eyes trained on the door behind her.

“Uh, Betts, I thought we said no PDAs at work.” He said, as he made no move to disentangle himself from her arms.

Betty shrugged her shoulders as her hands crept lower to rest on his lower back just above his recently pinched bottom, resisting the urge to give it a little squeeze.

He groaned, as his arms came up to embrace her.

Betty looked up at him, and counted herself lucky, once again that she had allowed herself to take a chance on this. She stood on her tiptoes placing a brief kiss against his lips. She felt him respond before pulling back.

“Okay Betts, not that I’m not loving this new-found friskiness. But, anyone could walk out here. What’s going on?”

“Oh, you know, just thinking about my secret Valentine.” Betty responded playfully even though Jughead gave no indication that he knew what she was talking about and Betty sighed as she realised that she would need to hint a little harder. “Who left a beautiful bunch of roses on my desk?”, she added.

Jughead shook his head. “I’m not getting you Betty.”

Betty let out an exasperated sigh, “The flowers Jug, with the teddy bear. The card said Happy Valentine’s Day from your Valentine.” Betty’s stomach dropped when there was still confusion painted all over Jughead’s face.

“I didn’t send any flowers.” He admitted with a scoff. “Do I strike you as the Valentines Day grand public gesture kind of guy?” Betty shook her head as another expression crossed his face. “Who sent you flowers?” There was an edge to his voice that Betty hadn’t heard before.

“I don’t know.” Betty answered, as she searched her mind for anyone who may have sent her the flowers. No one came to mind. Her attention had only been focused on Jughead since that first date. Even before then, if she was honest with herself.

Jughead pulled his beanie off his head as he ran a hand through his hair.

“Coffee?” Betty suggested as she wrapped her arms tighter around his torso, and he looked down at her again and nodded.

Betty knew something was amiss as they rounded the corner. Kevin was sitting at his desk with the biggest smile on her face and standing next to her desk was Archie Andrews.

In a suit.

With an oversized heart shaped box in one hand.

And in the other another bunch of roses.

Her eyes flicked from Archie, to Kevin (who looked like he was having the time of his life) to Archie again. She could almost feel Jughead tense up beside her at the sight of their colleague dressed up in front of them. Dressed up, for her.

“Archie,” she managed to stammer out.

Archie took a deep breath as he approached her, and Betty felt her heart caught in her chest. She looked to Jughead, who looked like he was about to kill him, to Archie who was looking at her like she hung the stars in the sky.

“Betty, would you be my Valentine?” Betty struggled to find words, her hands clasped in fists by her sides.

“I — I can’t.” Betty answered, her heart dropping at the disappointment on Archie’s face. Sure he wasn’t always the brightest of the bunch, but he was a good guy and -

“Why not Betty?” Kevin piped up, a mischievous glint in his eyes, “Surely one date can’t hurt?” Betty wanted to slap the smile off of Kevin’s face and instead clenched her jaw as she looked over to Jughead.

He looked like he was about ready to blow his stack. She had never imagined Jughead to be the jealous type, too cool, too sarcastic and too laid back to let something like this bother him. Did she really mean that much to him?

“Is there a reason you don’t want to go on a date with me?” Archie asked lowly, the sadness and disappointment in his voice, cutting through Betty. She looked over to Jughead again and then to Kevin with his raised eyebrow as if he was daring her to admit the truth.

“I’m kind of seeing someone else.” She said as she watched Archie’s head bow. “I’m seeing Jughead,” she grabbed Jughead’s hand which was so close to her own and gave it a tight squeeze. Hoping that he was okay with her decision to ‘out’ them, and felt relief wash over her as he gave it a squeeze back. Archie nodded solemnly and Kevin sat back in his chair, heads clasped behind his head.

As Archie looked down at the gifts in his hand, Betty spoke up.

“You know who doesn’t have a Valentine?” Archie shook his head. “Ethel. I’m sure she would love to go out tonight. She’s seeing the Bakers today. So it would really make her day.”

Archie gave a nod as he looked over to Ethel’s desk before moving the flowers from Betty’s desk to hers.

“Can I keep the bear?” Betty asked as she looked over at the bear sitting next to her keyboard and Archie nodded.

“Of course.” Betty smiled and turned to Jughead beside her.

“Let’s get that coffee,” she suggested as she wrapped her arm around his and pulled him towards the break room.

* * *

 

Betty and Jughead stood in front of her door, as she fumbled through her bag for her keys. Smiling triumphantly as she pulled them from her bag and slid them into the lock. After the awkwardness of the day she was ready to snuggle up on the couch with her beanie wearing, Valentine Day hating boyfriend and watch some reality TV.

She dropped her bag on the couch before she pulled two glasses from her cupboard, placing them on the counter, while Jughead looked in her fridge, no doubt for his fifteenth snack of the day. Betty wasn’t sure where he put it all. The thought soon had Betty thinking about the body that was hid under the layers of t-shirts and flannel and felt the heat creeping up the back of her neck.

“I think there is some wine in the fridge,” she said as she left the kitchen, “I’m just going to go take a shower and finally change out of this shirt.” The thought of wrapping herself in her cosy pajamas made her feel instantly better.

As she opened her bedroom door, to get to her en suite, she was stopped dead in her tracks.

There was no light on but the room was filled with the subtle glow of her lamp, one of her silk scarves draped over it, the bed was covered in rose petals and there was one of those deliciously oversized heart shaped boxes filled with chocolates on the bed.

She felt Jughead’s presence behind her as she continued to stare at her room amazed at the effort that _Mr. I don’t like Valentines Day_ had gone to. His arms wrapped around her from behind as he rested his chin on her shoulder.

“You like?” he whispered into her ear.

Betty nodded.

“Your sister graciously gave me your spare key. So after the appointment with the Smiths.” Betty was all of a sudden very glad that she had brought Jughead along to the dreaded Cooper Family Christmas Dinner, where her sister had taken pity on him for attending and attempted to shield him from the always inquisitive Mrs Cooper. “I wanted to do something special, but just for us.”

“I thought you didn’t do Valentine’s Day.”

Jughead pressed a kiss to the side of her neck, slowly trailing his way down to her shoulder. She closed her eyes at the touch of his lips against her skin. 

“For you Betts, I’ll make an exception.”


End file.
